Marterer advances, Shapovalov out

Stuttgart, 13. Juni 2018

After the completely drowned in rain Tuesday, Wednesday’s action at the MercedesCup kicked off with a big surprise: Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND/ATP 169), who had already successfully fought his way through the qualification, beat no. 6 seeded Canadian youngster Denis Shapovalov in three sets.

Gunneswaran got an early break in the first set but wasn’t able to serve out. Shapovalov managed to get to the tie-break in which the Indian kept the upper hand 8-6. Then, Shapovalov found his game, cruising to an easy 6-2 in the second. As quick as he found his game he also lost it again, as Gunneswaran jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third, before nerves got the better of him. Shapovalov managed to cut the lead to 5-3 before the Indian finally managed to close the match 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3.

German youngster Maximilian Marterer had to ward off a similar situation as the ATP no. 50 lost the first set to lucky loser Viktor Galovic (CRO/ATP 180) 3-6. Marterer then raised his level to take the second set 6-4. In the third set it was all Marterer as the 22-year old took the decider 6-1.

Benoit Paire also had trouble getting into the match. The Frenchman lost the first set to Taylor Fritz from the USA in the tie-break (4), but starting rolling afterwards, taking the sets two and three 6-3, 6i-2.

Canadian Milos Raonic only needed two sets to advance to the second round in his first appearance at the MercedesCup. Mirza Basic from Bosnia managed to keep the game open in the first set with Raonic ultimately keeping the upper hand in the tie break (8). The seconds set saw the no. 7 seed cruise to an easy 7-6(8), 6-2 win.

Feliciano Lopez advanced to the second round without touching his racket on Wednesday. The no. 8 seed from Spain got past Viktor Troicki due to a back injury of the Serb as Troicki wasn’t able to continue the match from Tuesday (which Lopez was leading 6-1).